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Reviews

“...if you enjoyed the original BIT.TRIP BEAT release, you're going to find a lot to love about this enjoyable sequel”8.0 – Nintendo Life

About This Game

BIT.TRIP CORE visits a darker place in CommanderVideo's saga, taking the player into unfamiliar territory as they use NES-style controls to blast their way through the barrage of Beats in this rhythm-music adventure.

I thought this would be the hardest game and the one I'd least enjoy of the BIT.TRIP series - but I ended up really enjoying this game for whatever reason! It's probably the closest to actually "pressing buttons" to the beat (runner/runner2 being the closest), and because of this, I was able to enjoy the music as I slowly learned the patterns in the levels.

This game will force you to think differently. You have to observe the patterns; you can't simply look at one side of the screen (like beat) and rely on that to catch the beats.

This game required as ton of sacrifices. Pad is near essential, port is completely horrible and functionality of the PC version is near non-existent. If you don't want to risk, I can completely understand that. Avoid if you are not prepared or are not interested in rhythm games in particular.

That said, I just cannot force myself to give this game a negative review, since I had great time playing this. Yes, it's most difficult of the Bit.Trip original series, but the rhythm in this one is nearly hypnotizing. You need to be more precise with hitting those flying bit and pattern recognition is ESSENSIAL but I was constantly finding myself replaying those levels enjoying how much a great musical experience this game is. Your whole mind will act and react to the beat.

That said... Someone should contact the authorities. Making that poor port of such a great game should be considered a crime. This is like leaving a cute, poor puppy alone in the forest. It's sad and unfair.

BIT.TRIP CORE is a pixel rhythm game loosely based off of Missile Command, in which the player must fire in one of four directions in time with music in order to "shoot" bits which are moving through the screen. It is the second game in the BIT.TRIP series, and sadly the only one of them which I wouldn't recommend. I would generally consider it to be among the more difficult BIT.TRIP games, and that is without getting into the imperfections there is with the timing in the PC release.

Like other BIT.TRIP games, as you string together a number of successful hits without a miss, the game will move to a "higher" mode which has more graphic effects, and as you miss enough without getting an appropriate number of successes, you will move to a "lower" mode, which has fewer. CORE starts the pattern of adding a new mode with each successive game, adding SUPER.

For people who really enjoy rhythm games, I'd recommend checking it out, but in another format - it's difficult to play in its current form, albeit not impossible. It's not a *bad* game, just a bit difficult to play.

This game just isn't right. The main issue I have is that there is a huge delay between pressing fire, and actually shooting your beam. It really ruins the experience. The Wii version, where this is ported from, has no delay at all. Now, you're not getting the game for $1 on the Wii version like you are for the winter sale, but it is SO much better than this game. If anything, I recommend picking up a copy of Bit.Trip Complete on the Wii for about $20. It includes all 6 games in the main series, fun extras, and it includes the true story of the Bit.Trip games. It's a great buy.

SO, final results:

Wii Version- Very fun and challenging for all the right reasons! Recommended, 8/10!PC Version- Kind of fun, and challenging for all the wrong reasons. Not recommended, 4/10Bit.Trip Complete- ABSOLUTELY worth your money, 9/10

Bit.Trip Core suffers from giving too little, too late. For the first two thirds of the game I was certain it was my least favorite of the Bit.Trip Saga that I'd yet to play, only to find the final third of the game (or in other words the third level) vastly improved on everything that came before. Even still, it's hard for me to even begin to recommend it, as by that point my experience was already soured and I was ready for it to be over.

As is the case with every Bit.Trip game, the gameplay of Core differs wildly from past games, placing you in the middle of the screen with the ability to shoot lasers in four directions. Blocks come out from the sides of the screen, and you need to time your shots to hit them as they cross over your line of fire. In theory and keeping with Bit.Trip tradition, these are supposed to line up with the beat of the audio track, but in practice there is very little rhythm at all to the patterns which makes it incredibly difficult to time shots with how short a window you are given. It's not until the last level that these designs finally come together and you can see what Gaijin Games was going for with a fantastic closer that feels really rewarding once you get in sync with the track, which makes it so disappointing that near everything that came before was just rubbish.

For a game you can finish in under and hour, it's hard to recommend Core when only a third of it is worth playing, and even then is likely to annoy those who don't posses a keen sense of rhythm. It's ideas are solid but its execution lacking, and on the whole I found little enjoyment to be had from what eventually showed itself to be an interesting concept. If only it had done so earlier.

Bit.Trip Core is the second entry in the Bit.Trip series, playing a bit more like a typical rhythm game in some aspects. The graphical and musical style from Beat is carried over from Core. In this game though, the graphics are not as crazy but still are trippy and weird, while the music is a lot more subdued. The story and cutscenes tend to revolve around Commander Video and 2 figures that look a lot like Commander Video.The gameplay consists of controlling an object in the middle that can fire up, down, left, or right. The goal is to hit each block as it passes through a line. This felt a little bit like Guitar Hero in trying to match a block with a direction and firing the laser. Just like in Beat, blocks move on the screen and with different patterns or in huge groups. Bosses exist at the end of the level with 2 more Atari references, and included to the game are bombs to remove difficult blocks onscreen.Core feels a bit flawed though. There are times when I was interested in the pattern of the blocks and the level designs, while other times I felt bored. Sometimes I would easily get the hang of a pattern and be in sync to the music, while other times I wouldn't and try to button mash my way out. The mellowed out design and more abstract gameplay in Core makes the game a bit harder to enjoy. As a whole, the game is roughly harder than Beat, although there are points where the game is easy and then it suddenly ramps up in difficulty. The time to beat Core is also roughly the same as to finish Beat as well.Bit.Trip Core will be fine for players who played some of the other Bit.Trip games like Beat or Runner and want more Bit.Trip action. The game itself isn't perfect, but gives a different kind of game that isn't the most amazing, yet offers some interesting things to check out.

Along with the rest of the BIT.TRIP Saga, this game is definitely unique. Only more so. But if you like simple, yet unforgiving music oriented games (I know you do), then do yourself a favor and check this one out. Commander Video FTW!

I absolutly love the Bit. Trip Series. CORE is a little more toned down than its brother BEAT, but it is still is one of the best rythem games out there. It has unimaginably good music (as we have come to know and love from these games) that just make you want to play and play more. The only thing i wish they added to this game was support for user created bit maps and impemented the bomb feature better. It kind of feels like they threw it in last minute because they needed something for the top right corner. Its just to hard to use effectively, maybe a sound que to tell when it is ready?. My rating overall woud be an 7.5/10

BIT.TRIP CORE is a rhythm game and is the second entry to the BIT.TRIP franchise also being my favorite. Note that I have played the Wii (and 3DS) version of this game a lot more then I have on the PC so I have a lot more hours in the game then it shows.

GameplayThe way CORE works is, you are playing at the + in middle of the screen. When a beat (square things) comes you have to take aim in one of the four directions and shoot the beats. The beats are in-time with the music and you will need to use the beat of the song to hit these accurately.

A staple to the BIT.TRIP franchise is the zones. The higher the zone, the higher your multiplier will be, thus more score. You zone up by hitting a certain amount of beats while not missing too many. Staying in higher zones results in more score, but it is really easy to fail out of it. The higher the zone, the better the music gets which is another thing to keep you motivated to keep doing better.

To fail a stage you will have to drop out of the Nether zone (the lowest zone) and there are no checkpoints. If you don't have experience then this game will be really hard at first. The difficulty curve is steep and the first level (Discovery) will be hard for first-timers. However once you get the hang of the game and mechanics, the next two levels will not be as hard.

Personally, once I pick up a good rhythm game I will spend too much time in it and this game is no exception. I find it very addictive to try to improve my score more and more.

Also, note that there are only the three 15 minute levels; Discovery, Exploration and Control. Playing through the game without failing will take just 45 minutes, but if you're motivated to get further improve your scores (like me), it shouldn't be a huge problem.

Music/SoundAs a rhythm game, the game is partially dependent on the music, so is it good? Definitely, CORE probably has my favorite music of any of the BIT.TRIP games, though that is subject to opinion. Also as I said before, the higher zone you're in, the better the music gets. Exploration is my personal favorite. (*^▽^*)

As far as sound effects go, they're solid and they do the job well.

VersionsBetween the three versions of the game (PC, Wii, 3DS) I feel that if you have the right controller (the Xbox 360's circular D-Pad design does not go well with CORE), PC is the best because of the increased resolution. Also, the challenges which flip the + 90 degrees are actually challenging on the PC cause you can't just flip the controller like you can on Wii. Don't bother with the 3DS version, it's basically broken as the music de-syncs after the first section of Exploration and Control.

Final ThoughtsBIT.TRIP CORE is up there in my all-time favorite rhythm games. The great music and addictive gameplay keep me coming back to spend even more time in it.Despite the difficulty curve, this is a very solid game. If you are a fan of rhythm games, definitely consider picking CORE up, and check out the rest of the franchise for that matter.

Thanks for reading and I hope you'll like this game as much as I do if you decide to pick it up!

The game is really short, only 3 levels long. In fairness, each of these levels have around 8 sub sections, Each of which need to be cleared on the hardest difficulty to perfection if one wants to truely beat this game. Unlike another game in the series, Runner, the lowered difficulty setting actually makes the game a Bit.Easier, and so the game can be finished by anybody with a little practice. Gameplay is fun and challenging, missing a beat doesn't interrupt gameplay (Unlike in runner, where you have to reset the whole level) And the music is fun. A solid rhythm game, recommended to anyone interested in getting into the series or style of games, and even to fans of the series who like a challenge.

So far my least favorite Bit.Trip game. The controls (using a controller) are just so awkward, I can't get used to them. Like all the other Bit.Trip games this one uses the same formula, so I think most of us know what to expect. I expected better.

As much as I like this game, I simply cannot recommend it on PC due to the input lag caused by the game's VSync (disabling it results in the graphics glitching up). I found the keyboard controls to be a hindrance as well (the DPad is simply better).

BIT.TRIP CORE is much easier than BIT.TRIP BEAT, but has many similarities as far as game styling. I actually prefer this one for gameplay since the directional input is easier to manage than the tilt/mouse/joystick style of BEAT, though I think I like the music in BEAT better. Overall, a good addition to the BIT.TRIP line and worth a play if you like the style.

Instead of playing Pong as we did in BIT.TRIP.BEAT, this time your screen is turned into a giant reticle and you must press in the proper direction to make a line, then press again when a beat passes over that line to destroy it. This gets very hectic very fast, and the difficulty is INSANE. In BEAT fashion you have flashing colors and backgrounds trying to distract you or give you seizures as well, and the better you perform the worse it gets. The only way to temporarily stop the insanity is a bomb bar which charges slowly and destroys every beat currently on the screen when detonated.

If you thought BEAT was even the slightest bit too challenging, do yourself a favor and stay away from this. If you think you were a master at BEAT and are ready to take this on, may God be with you.